Transistor Organ

This was a pretty neat find. Apparently someone donated a 1971 Thomas Transistor organ to the Goodwill here. I saw it and freaked out a little bit in the store, because I've thought these types of organs were the coolest since playing around with them as a really little kid in church. Of course I didn't so much play the organ then as I did just flip all the levers and mess around with it. But still, pretty awesome. Pictures!

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UPDATE! I found out it's possible to open the organ like a normal piano would open. What was inside!? I can't wait to find out!

Dust, mostly. And a five year warranty!

Wind Power: Best When It Produces Nothing

It was recently suggested to me that I should add some commentary to my blog, in case one day in the future I wanted to be a journalist. So, considering the person who suggested it is a journalist, this will be my first venture into blog-commentary. But, keeping it in line with the style of the blog, I'll hopefully be keeping the topics semi-technical and (when it overlaps) possibly slightly political. For some reason politicians think they know about science (in particular, energy) and that seems to create a lot of problems. I'll keep updating the blog with things I build as well, so hooray!

So I was handed this article at work, and it explains why exactly wind power isn't more prevalent than it "should be," at least, according to the common folk and/or politicians who don't try to understand more about the nature of the beast.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/tech-mainmenu-30/energy/4982-wind-power-an-ill-wind-blowing

The article is a bit long-winded (har har) but explains very well why wind power is not good for electricity generation. The same principles can be applied to solar. In my opinion as an electrical engineer (albeit without my P.E.) it seems like a lot of the problems discussed in the article could be solved by pairing a wind farm with a specially-built natural gas turbine to even out the generation. Solar Thermal Arrays usually use the same sort of idea, which I will more than likely discuss later on.

110VAC Hardwired in the Truck

I've decided that this post is going to be short, because the pictures should be pretty self-explanatory. I just need to get a couple notes in so I don't forget them myself. The goal was to hardwire standard power (120V AC) on my truck's dashboard instead of having an inverter flying around everywhere, loosely connected to an amplifier. I've found that AC is useful to have around, if you need to charge a laptop/phone/the Brypod or if you get locked inside of something and have to pull the Dremel out to cut down a fence. I have used an 800-watt inverter in my truck for about six months, it came out of a power supply I built about three years ago. Any way, I hit the junkyard and got this part for free, cut some holes, painted it black and coated it in acrylic, and bolted a switch and a power outlet to it. (I didn't want to cut into the one that was in my truck, in case I decide to sell it later on.)

Hopefully this shows the wiring on the inverter well enough. The only real shortcut I made was using 14/2 house electrical wiring instead of 14/3, and using the grounding wire as the 12V signal for the relay coil. The black and white wires I used for 120V hot/neutral, and I bolted the ground for the 120V and the 12V to the same point, just for simplicity. I assume the white insulation around the wire bundle is enough to handle 12V, and this has been in my truck for two days now and it hasn't caught on fire so I'm probably right.

The wiring up at the front of the truck was less glamorous, but everything fit in all nicely when I put it together, which I was a little worried about because things are kind of crowded up in the dashboard any way. Hopefully I never have to take this part off again.

The inverter is mounted under a plastic cover behind the driver's seat where the jack is stored. There was just enough room. The extra wires are there in case I want to put in another amplifier for the stereo. Just in case.

Here's the finished product. The switch on the left is the standard safety switch I'm such a big fan of, it controls a relay that I soldered to the switch on the inverter itself. The LED on the switch lights to indicate the relay coil is energized, which should mean that the inverter is on. Also I made the mistake of turning the truck on with that airbag switch unplugged, so now I'll have to reset it for the third time. I hate that light.

And just for fun, these are the two 10'' MTX Thunder 5500's that I keep in my truck. The driver's seat was out so I snapped a picture. No one can really sit in the back seat any way, so this is a much better choice for the space.

Auxiliary Reverse Lights

This project is a combination of two projects, both of which have been going on since mid-summer! Actually I remember a situation during the summer involving a girl, some high tension power lines, darkness, and fluorescent light bulbs in which this project was about half finished and I remarked to the girl that I should probably go ahead and finish wiring it up so it would have been easier for me to see while backing my truck across a field near this really dark substation. Long (but awesome) story...

Well, three (read: four) months later and I have finally finished it. I wanted extra lights on the back of my truck that would help me see while backing up (obviously) but also that I could switch at will to light anything I wanted. The lights I have aren't really that bright but they are better than just the normal reverse lights by themselves, and I can always put different lights in. Proof of concept!

The second part of this is a clutch bypass switch, and it is only related to the reverse lights because both parts share a common power bus. I also thought of how to make this switch better when making the wiring diagram for the reverse lights. Sometimes things just happen. The basic premise for having a clutch bypass switch is if the truck is offroad and in a precarious spot, and stalls for some reason, the driver needs to operate the gas and brake pedals simultaneously with no extra foot to push the clutch in to start the engine. Normally depressing the clutch when starting the engine is a safety feature which prevents the vehicle from lurching forward due to the engine turning over with the truck in gear. Could be disastrous. Off-road, however, it's more of a nuisance. So in aforementioned precarious situation, rather than awkwardly try to operate three pedals with two feet, a switch is thrown that makes the truck think the clutch is depressed, and when it is started the truck suddenly springs into action! Clever!

Any way the problem I had with the initial wiring of the clutch bypass switch was that the safety switch I installed had an LED indicator light to tell the operator of the vehicle if it was on (clutch depressed) or off. This light was not functional at first because the wires on the clutch button weren't power wires, they were only signal wires, and couldn't light the LED. So I wired the switch up to power to drive a relay which operated a switch in parallel with the signal wires, which enabled the LED. The problem was that I would use the switch and forget to turn it off because the light wasn't working. Problem solved!

I meant to include pictures of the in-dash wiring and the new relay (which I installed near the steering column to save wire) but I forgot to take this picture while I was cleaning up the wiring. These pictures will have to do.

With the plastic covers closed, there is no way for the switches to be on. This is a typical safety switch.

To operate either switch, the driver must flip the red cover up and then throw the switch.

Turning off my camera's flash shows the LEDs on the tips of the switches that indicate they are on, and the auxiliary reverse lights and/or clutch bypass switch are/is enabled.

Back to the reverse lights. Basically I applied the same principle as the clutch switch to get these to work like I wanted: relays! I ran 12V to the back of the truck and used it on the high-side of two relays. One relay operates if a switch in the cab is turned on, and the other relay operates when the reverse lights are on. To get this to work I cut apart an electric conduit and spliced in a wire, which my handy manual (or "Man Book" as a friend of mine from Canada called it) told me was the yellow one. Also FYI, I have cleaned up the wiring some since taking this picture, it just helps to see it before I bundled the wires up and fixed some of my terminations.

The bolt on the right-hand side of this picture I think is either for the back of the leaf springs or the bolts for the bumper, just to give some direction as to where these wires are.

So, after the weekend, I have this to show for my work! And some other things which I'm not finished yet but will be up later on.

The first picture I took with the flash on, and the switch on the dash on, so the normal reverse lights are not on.

This picture shows the reverse lights on and the auxiliary lights operating simultaneously, without operation of the in-cab switch.

I tried to get a shot of the back of my truck with the flash off. This is the best I could do. Pretty neat though.

And, as always, HAND DRAWN CIRCUIT DIAGRAM! WOO! The middle diagram is the first sketch I made of the auxiliary reverse lights before I realized (and noted in the picture) that my original idea would cause a catastrophic short-circuit under certain situations. Oops! The third drawing is the circuit that I employed, and the first is of the clutch bypass switch with its new relay. Also, BONUS: I remembered to flip the picture sideways so now it's right-side up. Hooray technology!

One final note, and making this a three-fer, I have another part to share! I installed this over spring break last March right before/during my 3300-mile surfing road trip with one of my friends from high school. Meet Sally, recent MIT grad who does things with biology now which I have almost no comprehension of!

Also I like to show that I actually take my off-road vehicle off-road, unlike most people with four- or all-wheel drive. This picture was at the Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, theoretically the best place to surf on the east coast. Any way, what I really wanted to put up here was the back lighting for my odometer. Normally it would look like this (at exactly 130,000 miles which I hit during this trip, approximately 15,000 miles ago):

However, some of the back lights had burned out (actually, none did, I just thought this would be cool and I was right) which meant I had to replace them. Only instead of replacing them with normal white incandescent lights, I put red LEDs in their places. Makes it a little easier on the eyes and it's much cooler, only for some reason the fuel gauge isn't particularly bright. Oh well, live and learn.

Pretty cool! And, just for fun:

Playlists

Most of the things that I build are excessively nerdy computer things (probably not by comparison of some things people do to computers) or actually physical. I think this next thing might be a little different.

A lot of my friends know that I listen to particular songs, artists, or types of music based on the season or even the time of day. A lot of thought goes into making playlists for the "brypod" (or the new iPod Shuffle if I'm running) that reflect my seasonal taste in music. Whenever I hear a song for the first time, or if I listen to an album a lot in a time frame, the things I did when I was listening to it get attached to those songs in my mind. Example: Third Eye Blind's semi-new album "Ursa Major" reminds me of fall my senior year of college, the people I hung out with, and some of the things I did at that time. So when fall rolls around again, I want to listen to that album to remind me of the previous fall. Sounds convoluted I guess, but it works for me.

Any way, since this blog is kept so that I remember the things I did, I decided to post three of my latest seasonal playlists: Late Summer music (different from normal summer music, I have this because summer is officially over when school starts but it's usually still really hot outside, so it's not quite fall yet), Fall music, and a playlist of all the music that reminds me of the past year. It was a pretty good year, minus one or two things. But even the music that reminds me of the bad parts of the past year is in this playlist. Live and learn.

Senior Year playlist:

Herbie Hancock & John Mayer - Stitched Up

MxPx - Chick Magnet

Tom Cochrane - Life Is A Highway

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

Electric Light Orchestra - Turn to Stone

Electric Light Orchestra - Sweet Talkin Woman

John Mayer - Clarity

John Mayer - Back to You [5.1 Surround Sound and PCM Stereo]

John Mayer - Neon [5.1 Surround Sound and PCM Stereo]

Coldplay - Clocks

Coldplay - Yellow

Coldplay - Lost!

Coldplay - Lovers In Japan

Coldplay - Strawberry Swing

Coldplay - Violet Hill (Album Version)

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Oasis - Hey Now!

Oasis - Some Might Say

Oasis - Cast No Shadow

Oasis - She's Electric

Oasis - Morning Glory

Elton John - My Father's Gun

Elton John - Where to Now St. Peter?

John Mayer - Crossroads

John Mayer - Who Says

John Mayer - Bigger Than My Body

John Mayer - Something's Missing

John Mayer - Only Heart

John Mayer - Bold as Love

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

John Mayer - Vultures

Nickelback - Someday

Nickelback - Figured You Out

Third Eye Blind - Can You Take Me

Third Eye Blind - Don't Believe a Word

Third Eye Blind - Bonfire

Third Eye Blind - About to Break

Third Eye Blind - Summer Town

Third Eye Blind - Dao of St. Paul

Colin Hay - Overkill

Hooch - Everything

Will Hoge - Even If It Breaks Your Heart

Green Day - 21 Guns

Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

Michael Tolcher - Sooner or Later

Rob Thomas - Her Diamonds

The Bravery - Believe

The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis

Anberlin - Adelaide

Anberlin - The Feel Good Drag

Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal

Anberlin - Breaking

Anberlin - Blame Me! Blame Me!

Anberlin - Retrace

Anberlin - Feel Good Drag

Anberlin - Disappear

Anberlin - Breathe

Anberlin - Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)

Anberlin - Younglife

Anberlin - Haight Street

Atreyu - Falling Down

Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)

Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way

Backstreet Boys - Quit Playing Games With My Hea

Betty Everett - It's In His Kiss (Shoop Shoop Song)

Coldplay with Jay-Z - Lost! Remix

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Summertime

Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg - Gin N Juice

Evan And Jaron - Crazy For This Girl

Foo Fighters - Wheels

Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julie

Gavin DeGraw - I'm In Love With A Girl

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

Ke$ha - TiK ToK

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

Weezer - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

Leroy - Good Time

LFO - Every Other Time

Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff

Limp Bizkit - Nookie

Limp Bizkit - Rearranged

Michael Franti & Spearhead - The Sound of Sunshine

Michael Franti and Spearhead - Say Hey (I Love You)

My Morning Jacket - I'm Amazed

NASA - Gifted (feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li)

Natalie Merchant - Carnival

Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline

Owl City - Fireflies

Stephen Kellogg - Start the Day Early

The Constellations - Felicia

The Contours - Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)

The Temptations -

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic

The Noisettes - Never Forget You

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Baby Love

Tim McGraw -

TLC - No Scrubs

Toby Keith - God Love Her

2Pac - Changes

Alanis Morissette - Not the Doctor

Alanis Morissette - All I Really Want

Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

Alanis Morissette - You Learn

Big Head Todd & the Monsters - Bittersweet

Bruce Hornsby And The Noisemakers - Prairie Dog Town

Cake - Italian Leather Sofa

Cake - Jolene

Cake - Sheep Go to Heaven

Carbon Leaf - Lake Of Silver Bells

Carbon Leaf - What Have You Learned?

Carbon Leaf - Mexico

Carbon Leaf - X-Ray

Carbon Leaf - Drops Of Rain

Carbon Leaf - Meltdown

Carbon Leaf - Miss Hollywood

Carbon Leaf - Cinnamindy

Carolina Liar - I'm Not Over (Album Version)

Citizen Cope - Bullet And A Target

Citizen Cope - Son's Gonna Rise

Darius Rucker - It Won't Be Like This For Long

Darius Rucker - Be Wary Of A Woman

Darius Rucker - Don't Think I Don't Think About It

Darius Rucker - Drinkin' And Dialin'

Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dar

Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body

Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin

Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart

Incubus - The Warmth

Jet - Cold Hard B****

Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl

Keaton Simons - Without Your Skin

Keaton Simons - Nobody Knows

Keaton Simons - To Me

Keaton Simons - Good Things Get Better

Keaton Simons - Misfits

Keaton Simons - Currently

Keaton Simons - Burch Mog

Keaton Simons - Joseph

Keaton Simons - Mama Song

Keaton Simons - Can You Hear Me

The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin'

The Offspring - Original Prankster

The Offspring - Want You Bad

The Offspring - A Million Miles Away

The Offspring - Dammit, I Change Again

The Offspring - Living in Chaos

The Offspring - Special Delivery

The Offspring - One Fine Day

The Offspring - Vultures

R.E.M./R.E.M. - Animal

R.E.M./R.E.M. - Man on the Moon

R.E.M./R.E.M. - Bad Day

R.E.M./R.E.M. - What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Radiohead - 15 Step

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

Rise Against - Savior

Rise Against - From Heads Unworthy

Semisonic - Secret Smile

Silversun Pickups - Melatonin

Silversun Pickups - Well Thought Out Twinkles

Silversun Pickups - Checkered Floor

Silversun Pickups - Waste It On

Silversun Pickups - Rusted Wheel

Silversun Pickups - Dream at Tempo 119

Silversun Pickups - There's No Secrets This Year

Silversun Pickups - It's Nice to Know You Work Alone

Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch

Silversun Pickups - Substitution

Spacehog - In the Meantime

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me

The Shins - Sealegs

Tool - Lateralus

Train - If It's Love

Train - Save Me San Francisco

Train - Hey, Soul Sister

Train - I Got You

The Who - Join Together

The Who - The Seeker

Zac Brown Band - Whatever it is

Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried

Zac Brown Band - Junkyard

Soundgarden - Spoonman

Fall Music:

Cage the Elephant - No Rest for the Wicked

Colin Hay - Overkill

Hooch - Everything

Will Hoge - Even If It Breaks Your Heart

Green Day - 21 Guns

Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

Linkin Park - In The End

Linkin Park - One Step Closer

Michael Tolcher - Sooner or Later

Rob Thomas - Her Diamonds

The Bravery - Believe

The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis

Tonic - You Wanted More

Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin'

Herbie Hancock & John Mayer - Stitched Up

Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby

Loggins and Messina - Angry Eyes

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

MxPx - Chick Magnet

Oasis - All Around The World

Phish - Prince Caspian

Sugarloaf - Green Eyed Lady

Three Days Grace - Never Too Late

Tom Cochrane - Life Is A Highway

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil

The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden

The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man

311 - All Mixed Up

311 - Down

Audioslave - Be Yourself

Audioslave - I Am the Highway

Audioslave - Cochise

Audioslave - Show Me How to Live

Audioslave - Gasoline

Audioslave - What You Are

Audioslave - Like a Stone

Audioslave - Set It Off

Audioslave - Shadow on the Sun

Billy Joel - The River of Dreams

blink-182 - Dammit

Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

The Byrds - My Back Pages

The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds - I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)

The Byrds - 5D (Fifth Dimension)

The Byrds - Eight Miles High

The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman

The Byrds - So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star

Crosby, Stills, & Nash Suite Judy Blue Eyes

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Everybody I Love You

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Carry On

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Almost Cut My Hair

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Helpless

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Woodstock

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 4 + 20

Jay-Z feat. Beatles - Dirt Off Your Shoulder

Jay-Z feat. Beatles - Public Service Announcement

Jay-Z feat. Beatles - What More Can I Say

Jay-Z feat. Beatles - December 4th

Electric Light Orchestra - Dont Bring Me Down

Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman

Electric Light Orchestra - Do Ya

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

Electric Light Orchestra - Strange Magic

Electric Light Orchestra - Livin Thing

Electric Light Orchestra - Turn to Stone

Electric Light Orchestra - Sweet Talkin Woman

Elton John - Sixty Years On

Elton John - Your Song

Elton John - Take Me to the Pilot

Elton John - Sweet Painted Lady

Elton John - Funeral for a Friend (Love Lie

Elton John - Candle in the Wind

Elton John - Bennie and the Jets

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John - Grey Seal

Fuel - Sunburn

Fuel - Shimmer

Green Day - Coming Clean

Green Day - Longview

Green Day - Welcome to Paradise

Green Day - Basket Case

Green Day - When I Come Around

Green Day - Geek Stink Breath

Green Day - Prosthetic Head

Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last

Green Day - Scattered

Green Day - All the Time

Green Day - Worry Rock

Green Day - Walking Alone

Green Day - Uptight

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Li

Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Jethro Tull - Cross-Eyed Mary

Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath

John Mayer - Clarity

John Mayer - Back to You

John Mayer - Neon

Michelle Branch - All You Wanted

Michelle Branch - Everywhere

Nickelback - How You Remind Me

Refreshments - Banditos (Stupid People)

Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends?

Smash Mouth - Flo

Smash Mouth - Beer Goggles

Smash Mouth - Walkin' on the Sun

Smash Mouth - Let's Rock

Smash Mouth - Heave-Ho

Smash Mouth - The Fonz

Smash Mouth - Pet Names

Smash Mouth - Padrino

Smash Mouth - Nervous in the Alley

Smash Mouth - Disconnect the Dots

Sublime - Santeria

Sublime - What I Got

Sublime - Wrong Way

Ingram Hill - Will I Ever Make It Home

Al Stewart - Year of the Cat

Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me

Coldplay - Clocks

Coldplay - Yellow

Coldplay - Lost!

Coldplay - Lovers In Japan

Coldplay - Strawberry Swing

Coldplay - Violet Hill (Album Version)

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Oasis - Hello

Oasis - Roll With It

Oasis - Wonderwall

Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger

Oasis - Hey Now!

Oasis - Some Might Say

Oasis - Cast No Shadow

Oasis - She's Electric

Oasis - Morning Glory

Oasis - Champagne Supernova

Oasis - Bittersweet Symphony

311 - Crack The Code

311 - Jackolantern's Weather

America - Daisy Jane

America - Sister Golden Hair

Billy Joel - Get It Right the First Time

Billy Joel - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

Billy Joel - Just the Way You Are

Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restauraunt

Billy Joel - Vienna

Billy Joel - Only the Good Die Young

Billy Joel - She's Always a Woman

Elton John - Can I Put You On

Elton John - Bad Side Of The Moon

Elton John - Amoreena

Elton John - Take Me To The Pilot

Elton John - Sixty Years On

Elton John - Honky Tonk Women

Elton John - Amoreena

Elton John - My Father's Gun

Elton John - Where to Now St. Peter?

blink-182 - All the Small Things

blink-182 - What's My Age Again?

05 Jolene

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Wooden Ships

Deftones - Headup

Deftones - Change (In the House of Flies)

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

Evanescence - Bring Me to Life

Evanescence - Going Under

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Fleetwood Mac - Hold Me

Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere

Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy

Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun

Fleetwood Mac - As Long as You Follow

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me

Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies

Fleetwood Mac - Sara

Fleetwood Mac - Big Love

Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

Foreigner - Long, Long Way From Home

Godsmack - Greed

Godsmack - Awake

Godsmack - Keep Away

Good Charlotte - Little Things

Good Charlotte - Waldorfworldwide

Good Charlotte - Motivation Proclamation

Good Charlotte - East Coast Anthem

Good Charlotte - Festival Song

Good Charlotte - Complicated

Good Charlotte - Seasons

Good Charlotte - I Don't Wanna Stop

Good Charlotte - Let Me Go

John Mayer - Crossroads

John Mayer - Who Says

John Mayer - Bigger Than My Body

John Mayer - Something's Missing

John Mayer - Only Heart

John Mayer - Bold as Love

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

John Mayer - Vultures

Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away

Nickelback - How You Remind Me

Nickelback - Someday

Nickelback - Figured You Out

Orgy - Blue Monday

Papa Roach - Infest

Papa Roach - Last Resort

Papa Roach - Broken Home

Papa Roach - Dead Cell

Papa Roach - Between Angels and Insects

Papa Roach - Blood Brothers

Papa Roach - Revenge

Papa Roach - Snakes

Papa Roach - Never Enough

Papa Roach - Binge

Papa Roach - Thrown Away

Papa Roach - Time Is Running Out

Radiohead - Planet Telex

Radiohead - The Bends

Radiohead - High and Dry

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Radiohead - Bones

Radiohead - (Nice Dream)

Radiohead - Just

Radiohead - My Iron Lung

Radiohead - Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was

Radiohead - Black Star

Radiohead - Sulk

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Simon and Garfunkel - America

Simon and Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson

Simon and Garfunkel - The Boxer

Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

Simon and Garfunkel - I Am a Rock

Simon and Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair/Canticle

SR-71 - Right Now

SR-71 - Politically Correct

Third Eye Blind - Faster

Third Eye Blind - Blinded

Third Eye Blind - Forget Myself

Third Eye Blind - Danger

Third Eye Blind - Crystal Baller

Third Eye Blind - My Hit and Run

Third Eye Blind - Misfits

Third Eye Blind - Can't Get Away

Third Eye Blind - Wake for Young Souls

Third Eye Blind - Palm Reader

Third Eye Blind - Can You Take Me

Third Eye Blind - Don't Believe a Word

Third Eye Blind - Bonfire

Third Eye Blind - About to Break

Third Eye Blind - Summer Town

Third Eye Blind - Dao of St. Paul

Late Summer playlist:

Scott McKenzie - San Francisco

Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze

American Hi-Fi - Flavor Of The Weak

Collective Soul - Better Now

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Summertime

Eric Clapton - Let It Rain

Hooch - Everything

Jethro Tull - The Witch's Promise

Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

Leftover Salmon - Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes

Lenny Kravitz - Where Are We Runnin'?

LFO - Every Other Time

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

Natalie Merchant - Carnival

Nickelback - Someday

OAR - This Town

Owl City - Fireflies

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul To Squeeze

Roots - Seed 2.0

Three Days Grace - Never Too Late

Smash Mouth - Peace Frog

The Four Tops - Working My Way Back To You

The Fray - She Is

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Baby Love

The Who - The Seeker

Guster - Demons

Phish - Down with Disease

Phish - Wilson

Phish - Character Zero

Phish - Sample In A Jar

Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing

Keaton Simons - Without Your Skin

Keaton Simons - Nobody Knows

Keaton Simons - To Me

Keaton Simons - Good Things Get Better

Keaton Simons - Misfits

Keaton Simons - Currently

Keaton Simons - Burch Mog

Keaton Simons - Joseph

Keaton Simons - Mama Song

Keaton Simons - Can You Hear Me

Carbon Leaf - Seed

Carbon Leaf - Indecision

Carbon Leaf - Another Man's Woman

Carbon Leaf - Miss Hollywood

Carbon Leaf - Cinnamindy

Carbon Leaf - Lake Of Silver Bells

Carbon Leaf - What Have You Learned?

Carbon Leaf - Mexico

Carbon Leaf - X-Ray

Carbon Leaf - Drops Of Rain

Carbon Leaf - Meltdown

Carbon Leaf - Pink

Carbon Leaf - Snowfall Music

Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye

Silversun Pickups - Melatonin

Silversun Pickups - Little Lover's So Polite

Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch

Silversun Pickups - There's No Secrets This Year

Silversun Pickups - It's Nice to Know You Work Alone

Elton John - Where to Now St. Peter?

Elton John - My Father's Gun

Elton John - Bad Side of the Moon [*]

Elton John - Take Me to the Pilot

Elton John - Sixty Years On

Elton John - Amoreena

Elton John - Grey Seal

Elton John - Funeral for a Friend (Love Lie

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John - Can I Put You On

Elton John - Bad Side Of The Moon

Elton John - Amoreena

Elton John - Take Me To The Pilot

Elton John - Sixty Years On

Guster - Fa Fa

Billy Joel - Get It Right the First Time

Billy Joel - The Stranger

Billy Joel - Just the Way You Are

Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restauraunt

Billy Joel - Vienna

Billy Joel - Only the Good Die Young

Electric Light Orchestra - Sweet Talkin Woman

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

Electric Light Orchestra - Turn to Stone

Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat.mp3

Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy.mp3

Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze.mp3

Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me

Semisonic - Closing Time

Semisonic - Singing in My Sleep

Semisonic - Made to Last

Semisonic - Never You Mind

Semisonic - Secret Smile

Semisonic - DND

Semisonic - Completely Pleased

Semisonic - This Will Be My Year

Semisonic - All Worked Out

Semisonic - California

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

Godsmack - Voodoo

O.A.R. - The Wanderer

Audioslave - I Am the Highway

Audioslave - Cochise

Audioslave - Show Me How to Live

Audioslave - Gasoline

Audioslave - What You Are

Audioslave - Like a Stone

Audioslave - Set It Off

Audioslave - Shadow on the Sun

Train - Drops Of Jupiter

Train - Meet Virginia

Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want

Tool - Schism

Tool - Parabola

Tool - Lateralus

Tantric - Breakdown

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Li

Green Day - Prosthetic Head

Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last

Green Day - Hitchin' a Ride

Green Day - The Grouch

Green Day - Scattered

Green Day - All the Time

Green Day - Worry Rock

Green Day - Platypus (I Hate You)

Green Day - Haushinka

Green Day - Walking Alone

Green Day - Suffocate

Green Day - Uptight

Green Day - Geek Stink Breath

Nickelback - How You Remind Me

The Byrds - I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)

The Byrds - Eight Miles High

The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman

The Byrds - So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star

The Byrds - My Back Pages

The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me

John Lennon - Imagine

John Lennon - Instant Karma

John Lennon - Whatever Gets You Thru The Night - Plastic Ono Nuclear Band (The)

John Lennon - Stand By Me

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

Shawn Mullins - Lullaby

America - Daisy Jane

America - Sister Golden Hair

Carolina Liar - I'm Not Over

Dangermouse - Public Service Announcement

Dangermouse - December 4th

Coldplay - Talk (Alternate Release)

Darius Rucker - It Won't Be Like This For Long

Darius Rucker - Alright

Darius Rucker - Be Wary Of A Woman

Darius Rucker - Don't Think I Don't Think About It

Jethro Tull - Cross-Eyed Mary

Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Eagles - Take It to the Limit

Eagles - Tequila Sunrise

Eagles - The Best of My Love

Eagles - Victim of Love

Staind - For You

Enjoy! Hopefully this post isn't too long... if anyone knows a way I can make little scrollable windows in this post then please let me know and I'll change it.

Bathroom Mods!

I just moved out to Nashville a couple months ago to start my new job, and the only bad thing about it so far (besides not being able to surf after work like I did almost every day in Charleston) is my bathroom. It's an odd shape, and the switch for the fan is on the other side of the bathroom from the door, the light switch, and the shower! It's conveniently placed by the toilet though, so go figure.

Before I talk about that, this first picture shows my first mod, bathroom speakers! I wanted to be able to listen to the stereo clearly while in the shower, without having to turn my regular stereo (two 600-watt MTX PRO-210 PA cabinets with five speakers each) up so loud it deafens my roommates. I wired the power and audio for it up to the regular amp, so as long as the switch is on in the bathroom it plays whatever the main stereo is playing (volume-independent). This has been convenient for watching TV, since my TV is on the stereo too, when I walk in the bathroom I only miss out on half of the TV-watching experience now. I guess I could just push pause, but what's the fun in that?

Any way, the main problem was that my fan wouldn't turn on when I wanted it to, usually when I was in the shower. I could take the extra effort to hike across my bathroom EVERY TIME I want to take a shower without all the humidity, but if I was that kind of person I probably wouldn't have used a microcontroller to operate my kitchen lights in my last apartment just so I wouldn't have to get off the couch. I also have a tendency to be a little absent-minded so I normally just forgot to turn the fan on when I get in the shower. So I decided to do this so that the fan would come on with the lights. Extra incentive for putting this in was the addition of the stereo, it probably doesn't like the shower humidity too much.

I wanted a switch to operate the fan too. I found a three-position double-pole double-throw center-off switch in my truck's toolbox. With the switch up, the fan is on all the time, with it in the center it is off all the time, and with it down it is on when the lights turn on.

The operation with the lights was accomplished with a 120V AC relay shown in the above picture on the right. I tapped into one of the lights using the same device I used in the fridge speakers post, and ran that to the coil on the relay. The relay and the three-position switch operate in parallel with each other.

This was the final installation in a typical light switch junction box, and I scavenged the plexiglass cover from the apartment kitchen light switch. I wanted the relay inside the junction box but it wouldn't fit with the switch, so I just taped it up real well and hung it outside. I soldered wires to the connectors, shrink-wrapped them, and then taped a few layers with electrical tape. Seems safe.

Above is the overall installation with the tap off of the lights that I mentioned earlier.

And the circuit diagram! Which apparently is sideways? Oh well. Tilt your head if you really want to see it! This shows the operation and wiring of every component in this project.

Hooray! Now due to all of this work and effort I can be a little more lazy. Engineering tends to work that way, and I'm OK with it.

mencoder

I have been trying to convert .MKV files to .AVI for a long time! Today I finally found a way to do it (for free, as per usual) in Linux. (I am currently using Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.)

mencoder test.mkv -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:threads=8:vbitrate=3000 -oac copy -o test.avi

Sometimes the -oac copy needs to be replaced with -oac pcm. I don't know why.

This is very helpful because my modded Xbox that I use for a media center can't play .MKV files. My first try with this was in Windows, but as usual, all of the programs available to do stuff like this are either horrible, full of spyware, not free, or otherwise bad. TAKE THAT, WINDOWS USERS. ::evil and non-nerdy linux laugh::

Hooray! Hopefully I'll have a post sometime soon with something less nerdy and more tangible.

GStreamer

OK this is mostly a note for myself because I've come across this problem many times.

In Linux (Ubuntu) to rip music using Rhythmbox, a "GStreamer Pipeline" must be provided. I rip at 320 kb/s because I can, and the pipeline for that is

audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc vbr=0 bitrate=320 ! id3v2mux

It took me a long time to find that. Any way, more things will follow now that I'm no longer a student or having an awesome summer or moving. Hooray!

'96 Jeep Cherokee Starter Motor

So my neighbor calls Monday night from the BB&T parking lot. Maggie (the Jeep) won't start! My truck's radiator is in the living room so I put a bunch of tools in Sue and we drove off to try and get the Jeep fixed. All the electrical equipment in the Jeep was working, but I decided to try and jump it off any way. That didn't work. I had this same problem right after I bought my truck though, where the truck wouldn't jump off because the battery terminals were bad. So I cleaned the battery terminals on the Jeep. That didn't work. All that was happening was the Jeep was making a clicking sound from around the transmission whenever anyone tried to start the ignition.

4.0 I6 Jeep engine.

So I call my other Jeep friend for a tow (because my truck is out of comission, sadly), and while he's there we decide that we should just hit the starter motor really hard with a blunt object. This got the Jeep cranked up well enough to drive home, but seeing as how my neighbor can't just get under her Jeep and hit it with a hammer every time she wants to go somewhere, I decided to look into replacing the starter motor. (The reason this works, temporarily at least, is because when the starter motor goes bad it sticks and won't turn at all unless it's nudged a little by a hammer blow or something like this. This is only a temporary fix, eventually even hitting it really hard won't get the engine turned over.)

I found a forum post about someone who was having the same issue. The solution is fairly straightforward: Remove two wires, then two bolts, don't let the old motor land on your face, put the new one in, screw in the bolts, attach the wires. Oh yeah. DON'T DO ANY OF THIS WITH THE BATTERY HOOKED UP. Remove the negative terminal first. Otherwise, bad things will happen. Some of the bolts are in kind of an awkward position, and I had to use a cheater bar to get the topmost bolt started, but it was a fairly simple fix.

Forum Post!

Another important point is that the starter motor is not in oil in the engine, so when the motor comes out, oil should not spill from anywhere. This brings up something interesting that happened while I was doing the repair, though. When I removed the positive and negative wires from the starter motor, old engine oil had collected in the housing for the wires and leaked out all over everything. This is perhaps proof of the theory that the starter motors in these Cherokees go bad faster than normal due to their location directly under the oil filter. So, any time the Jeep goes in for an oil change, dirty oil spills all over the starter motor. Not exactly healthy. But the entire engine bay of this Jeep was covered in WAY too much grease which somehow got on my pants? Seriously. It went everywhere. So I'm not going to fret over a little stray engine oil.

Any way, here are the pictures:

The hole just above the oil filter (white) is where the new starter motor will go. This was right after I removed the old one. It is a view from above the engine bay.

This is the view from below the engine bay. The flywheel is visible in this picture.

Old and new starter motors. And some red duct tape. The new starter motor cost right around $100 from Advance Auto, but when they get the old one back they give out a $30 rebate. Not really sure why, but that brings the total to about $70 for the parts.

Also important to note is that the bolts for the starter motor are different lengths. The short one goes on the top, the long one on the bottom. It took A LOT of cranking on the socket wrench to get them back in. But all in all, not a huge deal.

New starter motor. Complete with my greasy fingerprints. Awesome! After that, I hopped in the Jeep and it cranked right up. Fixing things is handy. Can't believe that Clemson Automotive wanted almost $400 to do this repair. Pretty ridiculous. Hooray saving $330!

The Truck's New Timing Belt

I will be doing this project in parts because it's fairly labor-intensive and should take a couple of days. Turns out my truck has a timing belt in it, and not a timing chain like the guy who sold it to me told me it had. Any way, the Nissan dealer wanted $759.95 to change the timing belt, but the parts (including a new water pump, new thermostat, and new drive belts) were only $290, so I figure I could save myself a ton of money by knowing how to use a wrench. I already saved myself $150 by changing the oxygen sensor in the truck myself. Not sure why the dealer wanted 1.5 hours of labor to basically loosen a bolt, but whatever. Any way, the reason the timing belt needs to be changed now is that this service is due at 105,000 miles on these Frontiers. Since the guy who owned it before me thought it had a chain, it never got done. His mechanic is probably an idiot, because the guy who sold me the truck took great care of it, that's mostly why I bought it. Any way, the truck just turned 127,000 miles old and with the belts still not changed, I'm not risking driving the truck until it gets done.


Any way, the first step is completed as of yesterday, and the radiator and cooling fan of my truck are currently up against the wall in the living room (temporarily). A couple tricks here that I came across:

First of all, the cooling fan cowling has to be removed first. It kind of wraps around the cooling fan so I had to bend the cooling fan back a little to get it out. Once it's unscrewed from the two bolts on the top of the radiator it's not really a huge issue, it's just a tight squeeze. Next is that draining the radiator is a pain. On the Frontiers, the cap is almost directly under the frame rail, so a funnel was needed and some coolant got on the frame rail and one of the rubber engine covers. I got as much of it off of those parts as possible.

Apart from that, just removing the two large hoses and the one little one connected to the coolant reservoir (making sure that the little hose doesn't drop below the reservoir) and the two bolts on the top of the radiator will allow the radiator to be lifted almost straight out of the engine bay. I left the bottom hose on the radiator and detached it from the engine instead, to keep coolant from leaking out of the engine. The coolant was extremely dirty, and since I don't know the last time the cooling system was flushed, I'm going to put enough coolant in to make it to the dealer and have them do it for me. Hopefully they'll also dispose of the gallon and some of coolant I collected in a bucket.


Any way, after the radiator and fan cowling were out, it was fairly simple to undo the four bolts holding the fan. The next step is removing the accessory (drive) belts, which a friend of mine is going to help me with, since I've never done it myself. I don't want to spend any more money! With the radiator and fan out, the drive belts are front and center in the engine bay.


Hopefully everything goes smoothly from here. If not, there's a mechanic right down the hill from my apartment so I could just coast down there and have them fix whatever. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but it's always good to have a backup plan in place.

---

PART 2!

I got the new timing belt in my truck successfully by following the following three threads at ClubFrontier.org

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f46/timing-belt-3-3-v6-41630/

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f46/timing-belt-question-56771/

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f46/when-did-nissan-switch-belts-chains-56250/

On to the pictures! The first one was after draining and removing the radiator, including the fan cowling and fan. Coolant goes everywhere!

Next, I pulled off all the old accessory belts. The first tensioner pulley bracket was removed (the one for the A/C). The one for the power steering and water pumps is still attached, and also attached to this bracket is a hose going to the thermostat/water pump. This picture still has the alternator belt on but that's pretty easy to take off. The alternator actually has its own tensioner, which is a nice piece of engineering.

These are some of the parts out of the truck in the order I took them off, from left to right. First was the top tensioner pulley bracket for the air conditioning compressor, then one of the hoses leading to the water pump, then the tensioner pulley for the power steering and water pumps (which I stripped a nut off of and had to order a new one. That will probably be mentioned again later), then the top cover for the timing belt.


This is what the engine looked like with these parts removed:

Then I removed the bottom cover for the timing bolt, all the screws for it (they're different lengths so be careful), and the crankshaft pulley. DO NOT USE A JAW PULLER ON THE CRANKSHAFT PULLEY. There's a chip off of mine from where I tried to do that. These pullers require a harmonic puller and two M6 x 1.00 x 80mm bolts to get it off.

Fun story here: The crankshaft pulley bolt is a bear to get loose. My buddy and I tried a breaker bar at first but then had to find an air compressor and a pneumatic impact wrench. However, without removing the air conditioning condenser, there was only about a quarter inch of room to maneuver the impact wrench. So when the bolt came off it shot the wrench into the condenser and we had a rough time getting it out. Also, the compressor was full of mud for some reason and it almost destroyed the wrench. And we had to tow my truck behind my buddy's jeep to get it close enough to the compressor, which was fun because I live in an apartment. I should have taken pictures of how we maneuvered the two vehicles. It was impressive. Any way, here's the parts I removed, minus the crankshaft pulley bolt (which is 1 and 1/16 inches):

This is what the engine looks like with the covers off. It still has the old belt, old thermostat, and old water pump on it.

This is what the crankshaft sprocket should look like. The picture is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, so the punchmark should be on the bottom right-ish.


Finally, a picture with the new thermostat (you can see the red RTV silicone I used), new water pump (it's shiny), and new timing belt (it's clean) on. Make sure to get a factory Nissan belt with all the markings on it. Also make sure to put it on in the right direction, I put it on backwards at first and none of the markings were lining up and I freaked out for a second, but then realized and switched the belt and everything lined up.


A few things to note here. First of all, don't put the new belt on until the water pump and thermostat have been changed. Coolant will go everywhere, and coolant should not get on the timing belt. Also, part of the water pump sits behind the belt itself. I wanted to get the water pump off with the old belt on in case I jarred one of the camshaft gears but it's just not possible. Nothing bad happened though so that's good, and now I have a new water pump! Hooray. After this, I put the crankshaft pulley bolt in so I could turn the engine over a few times with the breaker bar to listen to make sure the engine was timed right. After I turned it over a few times, I started it up just to listen to it run, but only for about fifteen seconds. This will not hurt the engine at all, and it's a good sanity check before spending the hours it takes to get everything back in.

Also, a torque wrench was needed to get the crankshaft pulley back in. It requires around 145 foot-pounds of torque which is a lot. We got it as close as we could, but could really have used a chain wrench to hold on to the pulley instead of one of the old accessory belts.

I think that's all for now. I'll put up pictures of the destroyed pulley bracket later on.

Turing-Complete Slow Cooker

The idea on this one is to put my new slow cooker on the internet, so if I can't make it home in time to turn it off and have a delicious dinner, I can log in to my apartment over an SSH tunnel and turn off my slow cooker from anywhere in the world. Great idea! Eventually I'll be able to expand this to other devices. Maybe have my whole kitchen on the internet. Who knows?



The first step is to figure out how to interface with a computer's parallel port. There are 25 pins on a standard parallel port, and eight of them can be physically controlled to be either 0 or 5 volts. And, as I've learned from previous projects, this is enough to operate a MOSFET and control fun things! So I can theoretically control eight devices in the kitchen. I'll probably plug the kitchen light into it because it'd be easy after what I did to it already, but maybe Bradley's coffee pot is next...

These ports used to be used for printers but are largely considered "legacy" now, so I will be using a 1996-era Packard Bell with a Pentium II to interface with various appliances. I installed Ubuntu 9.04 (I didn't have a 9.10 CD but whatever, I'm just using a command-line interface) and then decided to try Python out. I found this page on Ubuntu Forums to start off:

Ubuntu Forums!

After messing around with Python for a little bit I found this tutorial which uses C:

Tutorial!

I had to change a couple of things with the source code but I think this is the route I'm going to take. I'm not the world's strongest programmer but I think this will be enough. Eventually, I may go back and switch to Python because someone wrote a GUI to alter the pins on the parallel port. Any way, I have already been able to SSH into the computer I'm going to use to control the pins on the parallel port and am going to start wiring everything up this afternoon. Clemson's iced over so everyone's freaking out and not doing anything interesting, so this will have to do! But to be honest I'd probably be doing this any way. Electricity is awesome.